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Finally ! A day that felt like Spring Practice in Columbia SC. The team practiced in Shells again today and overall it was a pretty good atmosphere as the guys got to the halfway point of the spring workouts. Some notes to start off with today:Brandon Wilds was back with the RBs running full speed and looking REALLY GOOD. The usual suspects were still wearing yellow (Kane Whitehurst, Devin Washington, Connor McLaruin, Jordan Diaz, and a number 2 that doesn’t register, AND, David Williams was with the yellow shirt group today). Still very little to no reps for Mike Davis at RB this spring during any of the team drills.

Quarterbacks:Dylan Thompson had a great practice. Connected with all his throws during 1-on-1s, and did an excellent job moving the offense as the coaches used the down markers and ran plays during the Skells and Full team drills. He led the offense to Touchdowns on each of his reps during both drills. Perry Orth took all the reps with the second unit today and had some nice throws of his own. He didn’t look overly impressive during the one on ones, but moved the offense during skells the length of the field before finally bogging down inside the 10. Connor Mitch also moved the team down the field with his reps in both 7 on 7 and 11 on 11, but couldn’t get the six either time. Those reps were stalled by incomplete passes or good plays by the DBs deflecting his attempt to the end zone. Brendon Nosovich saw the fewest amount of reps in the practice today, but did manage to get off a couple of nice throws during his snaps in the 7 on 7. His best work of the day was turned in during 1 on 1s when he and Pharoh Cooper hooked up a couple of times for some deeper routes.

Running Backs:Welcome Back Brandon Wilds ! First time this spring without the civies or the yellow jersey, and Brandon practiced like he was eager to get back with the team and get busy. Wilds made several nice runs in both the Skells and full team drills, and caught a couple of passes out of the backfield also. There were a couple of plays were Mr Wilds broke defender’s ankles with some nice moves in the open field. Hope Brandon can stay healthy this season. He will be a big part of this team’s drive to win the East, and the SEC Title. Shon Carson had a good day early on, then sat out while the younger guys took over the bulk of the carries during team drills.

Wide Outs / Tight Ends:Solid day for this group in today’s workout. Only saw a couple of dropped passes but that was two too many. Pharoh and Shaq both had good practices as a whole, but both dropped easy catches during the full team drills. Roland made a couple of nice over the shoulder deep catches from Dylan Thompson, and Pharoh had a big catch to move the chains on a fourth and 15 play when it looked like the opening drive of the 11 on 11 was about to stall. That pass was thrown by Thompson as well, but was over the opposite shoulder from the route that Coop was running. He (Pharoh) made a nice adjustment as the ball got to him, and he took the ball in walking the tight rope along the sideline, and picked up about 25 yards. There’s a number 12 now listed with this group that isn’t / wasn’t on the roster. I’m assuming it was Jody Fuller, because I didn’t see Jody’s number 19 out there today. If it was Jody, he had an up and down day making some nice diving catches early on, but got a verbal lashing a couple of times from Coach Spurrier Jr. for running the wrong route, or missing blocks. Buster Anderson was a favorite Target for Connor Mitch a couple of time in the 7 on 7, but he sat out most of the 11 on 11 reps after that. I saw Shamier Jeffery catch one ball in the 1 on 1s, but wasn’t heard from after that, although… I also saw him get open a couple of times during the full team drills, and the QBs (Orth and Mitch) failed to pick him up. One of those was a corner route that the DB missed and S Jeff was wide open. One note that concerned me… I kept looking for Jacob August’s #40 out there today, and didn’t see it anywhere on the field. I haven’t heard of him getting injured, or being suspened, so not sure what’s up there. Hope he’s still with the program because he was a good looking TE that could contribute some nice quality depth to the position this season.

In The Trenches:I noticed that both Phillip Dukes and Deon Green were getting a lot more reps today than I’ve seen so far I the practices. Deon is still having some problems making coach Adams happy with his work during position drills, but he did well with his reps with the second unit today, as did Dukes. Na’Ty Rogers is still working with the team, and is getting some major work at both the Right Tackle spot on the second unit AND, being used as an extra Tackle / TE on goal line plays, on the right side of the line.

Linebackers / Spurs:Jordan Diggs made his presence felt today during team drills. Even though the offense was able to move pretty well all day, there were a few OUTSTANDING defensive plays turned it today, and a couple of those were made by Diggs. One near pick from a Dylan Thompson check down pass intended for Shon Carson. Jordan read the play when Thompson couldn’t find an open receiver, and broke on the pass as Dylan cocked his arm. Diggs reached around Carson to bat the ball up in the air, and nearly caught the deflection before it hit the ground. Larenz Bryant also had a good showing deflecting a couple of slants during the 7 on 7, and Skai Moore closed the middle down early on in the 11 on 11 with limited reps there.

Secondary:This was probably the least impressive group of the day, after having a very good showing so far this spring. There were several missed assignments by our safetys leading to easy deep throws during all three segments of the team drills. The best showing in the group today were Brison Williams who was able to bat a couple of the longer passes down, and Sophomore Red Shirt Chris Moody who dropped two near picks today, although they would have been remarkable catches had he held on to them. Both of them were short checkdown / slant routes that he was able to read and close on. One from the arm of Dylan Thompson and another (almost carbon copy) from Perry Orth. Even though he didn’t get the pick for the defense, he was able to keep the offense from picking up first downs on both plays, forcing the chains to reset to first down.

I really hope they can find a way to get all the backs some PT this year. Davis, Wilds, Carson and Williams could be the most talented backfield ever at USC after all is said and done. I also look for this defensive secondary to have a knack for creating turnovers, snagcity.

I really hope they can find a way to get all the backs some PT this year. Davis, Wilds, Carson and Williams could be the most talented backfield ever at USC after all is said and done. I also look for this defensive secondary to have a knack for creating turnovers, snagcity.

Thanks Spurticus for your in depth reporting on what goes on at the practices. You really have the gift of watching and reporting it all. I know that it must be hard to follow all of the players as there is so much going on during these practices, but you really do a good job at it.

devin washington's injury listed as a hand. rico mcwilliams was in yellow but undisclosed. 4 interviews with defensive players/coaches on gamecocksonline. coach brown echoed what you said spurt. he's been moving brison back and forth prior to today because he wants him to get better at both.

we're going to need big things from the safeties this year. itll be great to see tj gurley healthy this year. coach brown mentioned that marcus replaced elder in the bowl game because he was better at diagnosing the wisconsin shifts.

devin washington's injury listed as a hand. rico mcwilliams was in yellow but undisclosed. 4 interviews with defensive players/coaches on gamecocksonline. coach brown echoed what you said spurt. he's been moving brison back and forth prior to today because he wants him to get better at both.

we're going to need big things from the safeties this year. itll be great to see tj gurley healthy this year. coach brown mentioned that marcus replaced elder in the bowl game because he was better at diagnosing the wisconsin shifts.

Brison has been going back and forth @ safety and Corner pretty much
the whole spring. I think from listening to Coach Brown talk about Jamari
Smith last week, that they weren't too confident in Smith's ability to
play Corner or add depth to the position, so they moved Williams back
there going in to Spring Drills. Smith however has improved and done a
pretty good job at corner when he's up for his reps and during the
scrimmages. Smith and Williams rotate at Corner on the first unit defense
and when Smith is in, they have actually played both on the first unit
With Williams moving back to safety.